


We’re Not Stupid

by skj



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Cheating, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, dont worry, mike is stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 18:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12894246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skj/pseuds/skj
Summary: Mike is mad that Eleven spends so much time studying as they near midtermsorMike is stupid and kisses another girl.





	We’re Not Stupid

He wasn’t going to lie. Mike knew why he was doing this, and frankly, it disgusted him. Susan’s constant need of a “tutor” was kinda famous in the junior year. For obvious reasons. The nerds on the hotter side of the spectrum that were lucky enough to tutor her told the stories for days.

Mike fell in the “really hot” category for the nerds. Everyone had been surprised at how much he had matured. And Susan had been wanting to book him for a long time. 

El was great, that much was for sure. But she had been getting distant as midterms approached. Even though she was smart, she had only been in a school setting for 2 and a half years. She studied like a madman when midterms and finals came up. Mike wasn’t seeing her as much as he’d have liked. So he resorted to this. What a douche. 

Mike audibly sighed. He was seriously regretting this. 

“Is anything wrong?” Susan asked, looking up from her chemistry.

“No, nothing. It’s getting kinda late and I should probably get home.”

Susan pouted. “Come on. I still need help with balancing these formulas.”

Mike was starting to get impatient. He really regretted this decision. “Just use the acronym I gave you. It should really help. And make the odds even and stuff.”

Susan rolled her eyes. She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him to her face. Her eyes were the opposite of El’s. It was wrong. Her face was inches from his. She kissed him. 

Mike froze for a second but came to his senses immediately. and pulled away as fast as he could. 

“What the hell, Susan? You know I’m going with El!”

Susan just laughed. “Relax, I don’t like you like that. I was hoping you’d forget her long enough for me to get something out of this,” she gestured between them, “but you’re obviously so in love with her. I only did it because she’s right behind you.”

Shit.

Mike turned around and saw El standing at the entrance of the library with a terrible mixture of anger, pain, and sadness in her tear-filled eyes. She turned around and ran down the hallway out of sight. 

Mike stood up and went to chase after her, but he decided against it and sat down defeated.

After a minute, he gathered up his stuff and headed out to his car. 

Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit.

—

El was new to the world. It had been 4  
years. But she was a fast learner and if the world had taught her anything, it was to not be naive. 

She knew what Susan’s tutoring meant and she knew that Mike was tutoring someone. She just hoped she wouldn’t have to connect the dots. 

But Mike was her ride that day so she had to go find him. And boy, did she find him. 

El sat shotgun in Dustin’s car, shaking from anger and sadness. Tears threatened to spill out from her eyes, but she wouldn’t let them. 

Dustin sat awkwardly in the driver’s seat. He did not know what was going on. El had just come running out of the school, spotted his car, stopped it, unlocked it (with her mind) and gotten in. 

“Can I, uh, go now?” Dustin asked. 

El turned to him and said with a very soft voice, “Could you take me to Will’s? Please.”

Dustin put the car in gear and rolled out of the parking lot. “What’s wrong?”

El just shook her head as the tears fell from her eyes. 

—

Mike ran his hands through his hair and sighed. Why had he done this? God, he was dumb. 

“Uggghhhhh,” he grumbled. 

Footsteps tapping in the hallway stopped at the noise. The door swung open and Nancy’s face peeked in. 

“Ok, stop with the monster noises, I’m trying to do homework,” she said annoyedly. She noticed the tear tracks down his face. “Wait, what’s wrong?”

Mike rolled his eyes and sat down on his bed. Her shooed her away with a hand motion. 

“Oh, hell no,” Nancy said. “You do not attract my attention and then make me go away. Tell me what’s wrong. You’re a junior in high school, it’s Thanksgiving, and I’m home for break. This is the least likely time you would cry for no reason. Tell. Me.”

Mike, surprised by her assertiveness, began. “I fucked up.”

“Language,” said a lazy voice from down the hall. 

Nancy shut the door. “No shit, Sherlock. Explain.”

Mike sighed for what seemed the thousandth time that day. “I was tutoring this girl and she kissed me and El saw,” he said all in one breath. 

Nancy’s eyebrows raised to her hairline. “Wow. Yeah. You fucked up,” she replied. 

The phone on Mike’s nightstand rang. He picked it up. 

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Will.”

“Oh. Hey.”

“Why is El over here crying and talking to Mom?”

“Fuck.”

“Dude, what did you do? I’ve never seen her like this!”

“I tutored Susan.”

“Okay, I’m so confused. There is no way you would agree to tutor Susan. You know what that means.”

“I know. I was just mad because El’s always studying nowadays. I never see her.”

“You’re so stupid. If you feel that way, you should talk to her, not screw some other girl!”

“Dude, I backed out almost immediately, she just kissed me as I was walking out. She said it was ‘cause El was right behind me.”

“So you didn’t do it.”

“No.”

“Oh. I guess I thought you got tired of El not wanting to do it so you went and had sex with Susan or something.”

“What are you talking about ‘El not wanting to do it’?”

“She just doesn’t seem the type to—“

“Okay, this is too much information but I didn’t do it ‘cause I wanted to get laid. El and I have already done it. I did it ‘cause...”

“Ew. I did not need to know that. Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“The lights are flickering. You better get here before she shuts off the power.”

“Maybe in a minute. Just make sure your mom doesn’t tell Hopper.”

“Oh, god, I hope she doesn’t. That would suck for you.”

“Sure as hell it would. Bye.”

He hung up the phone and got shudders at the thought. 

From behind him, Nancy said, “Are you using protection?”

Mike whipped around. “What?”

“Are you being safe?”

“Yeah, but that’s hardly what matters right now, Nancy.”

Nancy walked over to Mike’s bed sat. She waited a minute and hesitated before saying, “There’s no excuse for this, Mike. You just have to explain to her the WHOLE truth and how you messed up and you’re really sorry. And then you give her time.”

Mike flopped onto his back and lay there for a second before getting up and getting in his car in a bad mood for the second time that day. 

—

When El got to Will’s, she slammed the door open and walked in with a nosebleed. Joyce stood in the kitchen cooking dinner (it smelled like spaghetti with extra oregano) when El came in. Joyce looked up, shocked, and immediately noticed that El was a mess. She was crying and her nose was running blood and boogers. Her face was red and she looked hurt. But not physically. Joyce knew the pain all too well. 

Dustin came running behind her and said, “I don’t know what’s wrong, she just asked me to drive here and the entire time the radio was tuning in and out, there’s something wrong, I’m sure of it!”

“I’m right here, Dustin. I can explain,” El breathed. She sounded mad. But sad. 

So Joyce took El into her room and El talked. She told the story, and even though it was short, it sounded so long and painful. 

Joyce knew El. She knew she would not want to be babied. So she told her the cold hard truth. 

“El, why is this upsetting you so much? It could have been a mistake, it may not have been his intention, it may have been her who kissed him.”

El took a deep breath. “The first thing that Mike taught me when I got out of that—“ she hesitated, “that place was trust. I knew through everything I could always trust him. He taught me ‘friends don’t lie’ and it’s been the one constant thing in this world. That he wouldn’t lie. That I could trust him. It’s been my one thing keeping me connected to everyone else, the entire world, through everyone who makes fun of me or insults me, and now... and now it’s gone.”

Joyce enveloped her into a hug. “Oh sweetie. It’s not gone, it’s just... rocky. He’ll come around. He will.”

And so they sat holding each other until a frantic knock came at the door. 

“I’ll give you three guesses who it is,” Joyce said with a small smile as they walked together to the front door. 

El didn’t know whether to be happy or angered to see the beautiful person standing in front of her now. Oh, god, you could tell he was torn up. His eyes were red from crying and he couldn’t stop bouncing on his feet. 

When Mike saw her his face lit up and he managed a weak smile that was quickly replaced by guilt and sullenness. El reciprocated. 

Joyce looked between them. “I’ll let you two talk.”

As she walked away, the two made their way onto the couch. There were a few seconds’ silence before El spoke up. 

“Why, Mike?”

Mike looked torn as he began talking. “I don’t know. I just... I thought that you were ignoring me. Because of all the studying. But I never meant to do anything with her. I promise you that much. It still doesn’t excuse what I did, though. It was shitty. My intentions were what counted even though I didn’t act on them. It was a douchey move, El. I’m sorry.”

El sighed and scooted closer to him. “I know, Mike. I know you would never do that to me. But... I’m different. I’ve only been here like 3 years. The world is new to me still. And... you know the first thing you taught me? Your name. The second thing you taught me was ‘Friends don’t lie.’ You know how shitty it is to have that engrained as the first thing I came into contact with in the human world and for that to be broken? It’s different for me, Mike. And I know that. But I’ll get over it. I am over it. Almost,” she finished with a small smile. 

Mike smiled back and closed the gap between them. He put his arm around her and kissed her head. He whispered into her hair, “It won’t happen again. It hurts me too much to see you hurt. I love you.”

El’s breath hitched. It wasn’t the first time they’d said that, not even close. But it sounded like a prayer. A vow. And he wasn’t going to break it.


End file.
